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Oral History

Long-time HFFI member, Tomi Lewis Reneau, a Fredericksburg native well known for her knowledge of local history, her skill in photography and graphic arts, for her genealogical research, and as a book collector.Tomi Lewis Reneau, Part ITomi Lewis Reneau, Part II

Blanche Moran is a woman who worked in the Fredericksburg area in the 30’s and 40’s. She lived here for many years from before the Great Depression until the interview in 1998; during that time she had experienced a wide variety of things here. If history is truly the everyday life of average people, Mrs. Moran is a great representation of that history for this area.

Mrs. Frances Robinson Buckley Pratt lived in the Fredericksburg area for most of a century. She has witnessed many changes in the area including the beginning of Fort A. P. Hill and the Great Flood. She has an interesting story to tell and a lot of geographic information about how the town began and what grew where. She met a few celebrities along the way too, including the famous artist Salvador Dali and his wife.

Dr. David William Scott, Jr., is a native of the Fredericksburg area who was 91 at the time of this interview in 2003. He shares with us his vast knowledge of the changing landscape of the area as well as changes in the medical field since he received his degree over 50 years ago. Dr. Scott also served in WWII and shares with us here some of his experiences dealing with leprosy among other things. He was one of the first doctors using penicillin and so many other drugs that are so common today.

Freeman Funk was City of Fredericksburg city manager for 23 years - from 1955 until 1978 - and later served five years on City Council, retiring in 1998. After leaving public service in 1978, Mr. Funk was a consulting engineer. His first wife, Frances Gill Funk, is deceased. Mr. Funk and his wife, Mary Frances Blackburn Moore Funk, live on Franklin Street in a house that Mr. Funk built in its entirety. This is the transcript of the first tape in a series beginning May 14 and continuing on May 21, May 28, and ending September 9, 1999.